> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Top Customers, BigCommerce > Top Customers for BigCommerce stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Supporting Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Ecommerce Platform](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > Top BigCommerce customers ranked by 90-day spend. The card the marketing and customer-service teams use for VIP recognition, retention investment, and B2B account-management decisions. The 5% of customers who drive 30-50% of revenue, this is your shortlist. | | | | ------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `SUM(total_inc_tax) GROUP BY customer_id` over the 90-day period. Each customer's order total summed, ranked descending. Default top-100. Guest orders (no customer\_id) excluded by default. | | **VAT / tax treatment** | Tax-inclusive (`total_inc_tax`). | | **Shipping** | Included. | | **Discounts** | Already deducted. | | **Refunds** | Not deducted (gross). | | **Cancelled / voided orders** | Included if order created. | | **Currency** | Multi-currency without FX. Filter by currency for clean comparison. | | **Channels / sources** | All channels contribute. A B2B customer ordering through both web and B2B portal sums across both. | | **Customer ID stability** | BC's `customer_id` is stable per registered customer. Guests get synthetic IDs per order; filtered out by default. Toggle "include guests by email" to dedupe and include guest spend. | | **Top-customer concentration** | Top 5% of customers drive 30-50% of revenue typically. Loss of any top-10 customer is a material revenue event. | | **B2B Edition note** | B2B customers typically dominate due to higher AOVs (5-10× retail). Filter by customer group for cleaner segment views. | | **Time window** | `90D` (30-day window too short for top-customer signal stability) | | **Alert trigger** | None on this card directly. | | **Roles** | owner, marketing | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your BigCommerce data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A US homewares brand on BigCommerce Enterprise (B2B Edition active), 90-day window 14 Feb 26 to 14 May 26. | Rank | Customer | Group | Orders | Total spend | AOV | Tenure | Verdict | | ----------------- | -------------------------- | --------- | ------ | ---------------------- | ------- | ------- | ------------------------- | | 1 | Atlantic Hospitality Group | Wholesale | 14 | \$84,200 | \$6,014 | 4.2 yrs | **Strategic B2B account** | | 2 | Maple Hotels & Spas | Wholesale | 8 | \$58,400 | \$7,300 | 2.8 yrs | High-value B2B | | 3 | Westside Boutique Hotels | Wholesale | 11 | \$46,800 | \$4,255 | 3.1 yrs | Steady B2B | | 4 | Linda K. (retail VIP) | Retail | 6 | \$14,200 | \$2,367 | 5.0 yrs | **Loyal retail VIP** | | 5 | Robert M. (retail VIP) | Retail | 4 | \$11,400 | \$2,850 | 1.8 yrs | New high-spender | | 6-10 | (5 retail VIPs) | Retail | mixed | \$32,400 | mixed | mixed | VIP cohort | | 11-50 | (40 customers) | Mixed | mixed | \$84,000 | mixed | mixed | Solid mid-tier | | 51-100 | (50 customers) | Mixed | mixed | \$58,000 | mixed | mixed | Tail loyalists | | **Top 100 total** | | | | **\$389,400** | | | | | **Top 100 share** | | | | **42% of 90D revenue** | | | Pareto in action | What's interesting: 1. **Top 3 customers (all B2B) account for 51% of top-100 spend, \~22% of total store revenue.** This is concentration risk: losing any of the top 3 wholesale accounts could move quarterly revenue 5-10%. **Action: dedicated account manager for top 3, quarterly business reviews, contract renewals proactively managed.** 2. \*\*Atlantic Hospitality Group at $84k / 14 orders is the strategic crown jewel.** 4-year tenure suggests stable relationship; AOV of $6k means meaningful per-order revenue. Investigate: is contract up for renewal? Are competitors pitching them? Do they need a custom product line? 3. **The retail VIP tier (ranks 4-10)** are gold for brand storytelling and retention. Linda K. at 5-year tenure with \$14k 90-day spend is the kind of customer who refers friends. **Action: invite to private events, early-access launches, personalised outreach. Loyalty program tier above standard.** 4. **Robert M. as a new high-spender** is a "watch closely" pattern. 1.8-year tenure means relatively new; \$2,850 AOV is high; could become a top-3 if growth continues. Action: nurture deliberately, ensure smooth experience, track for repeat behaviour. 5. **The 40-50 mid-tier customers (ranks 11-50)** are the loyalty-program backbone. Each spends meaningfully but not enough for white-glove treatment. Standard VIP perks (free shipping, early access) keep them engaged. 6. **Top 100 = 42% of revenue.** This is healthy concentration for a multi-channel BC store with B2B. Pure retail stores typically see 25-35% top-100 concentration; pure B2B sees 60-75%. Hybrid stores like this fall in between. Action priority order: 1. **Account-management plan for top-3 B2B** this week, dedicated AM, quarterly reviews, retention-priority contracts. 2. **Retail VIP recognition this month** personalised emails, early access to next launch, private event invitations. 3. **Watch-list mid-tier risers** track ranks 51-100 monthly for promotion to retail VIP tier as spend grows. 4. **Quarterly: assess concentration risk** if top-3 share rises above 30% of total revenue, diversify proactively. 5. **B2B / retail segmented views** run this card filtered to each customer group monthly for cleaner per-segment decisions. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with Top Customers | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | [BC Customer Segments](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/customer-spend-segments) | Segment breakdown (new / returning / VIP); top customers anchor the VIP segment. | | [Customer Count](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/unique-customers) | The total customer base; top-100 ÷ total = concentration ratio. | | [Repeat Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/repeat-customer-rate) | Repeat-customer rate; top customers by definition are repeats. | | [Order Frequency](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/customer-order-frequency) | Per-customer order frequency; top customers usually have high frequency or high AOV. | | [BC AOV by Country](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/aov-by-country) | Top customers' country mix; B2B accounts often cluster in one region. | | [Churn Risk](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/customer-churn-risk) | Risk of losing top customers; an essential pairing for proactive retention. | | [BC Guest vs Registered](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/guest-vs-registered-orders) | This card excludes guests; cross-reference for the missing guest cohort. | | [`shopify.repeat_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/repeat-customer-rate) | Cross-platform reference for top-customer analysis. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in BigCommerce Control Panel:** [Customers → View](https://login.bigcommerce.com/deep-links/manage/customers) sorted by total spend descending gives a basic top-customers view. [Analytics → Customer Reports](https://login.bigcommerce.com/deep-links/manage/analytics) on Pro / Enterprise plans includes a top-customers report. For B2B Edition, [B2B Edition → Customers](https://login.bigcommerce.com/deep-links/manage/b2b-customers) shows the wholesale-portal customer view separately. **Why our number may legitimately differ from BC:** | Reason | Direction | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | | **Time window**. BC's customer view shows lifetime spend by default; this card uses 90-day rolling. | Different totals | | **Guest deduplication**. BC counts guest orders separately each time; we optionally dedupe by email. | Vortex IQ may show HIGHER guest spend if deduped | | **Multi-currency aggregation**. BC may convert; we don't FX. | Different totals | | **Refund netting**. BC reports may show net spend; we show gross. | BC LOWER if netted | | **Multi-channel customers**. A customer ordering through both web and B2B portal sums in our view; BC may split per channel. | Different totals on multi-channel customers | | **Anonymous-customer orders**. POS walk-in customers without account creation may be invisible to both views. | Both miss the same | **Cross-connector reconciliation (when CRM and email integrations are connected):** | Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`klaviyo.kl_top_customers_by_revenue`](/nerve-centre/klaviyo/kl_top_customers_by_revenue) | Klaviyo's top customers by Klaviyo-attributed revenue; should overlap with this card's top-100. | Klaviyo only attributes email-driven revenue; this card is all-channel revenue. | | [`hubspot.hs_top_accounts_by_value`](/nerve-centre/hubspot/hs_top_accounts_by_value) | HubSpot accounts (often B2B); should match the B2B-channel slice. | HubSpot tracks pipeline + closed; BC tracks paid orders. | **The top-customers view is BC-aligned with similar cards on Shopify (`repeat_rate`) and Adobe Commerce; the merchant-facing semantics are equivalent.** ***
Same-metric documentation cross-reference (for agencies running multiple platforms) * [`shopify.repeat_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/repeat-customer-rate) * [`adobe_commerce.top_customers`](/nerve-centre/adobe_commerce/top_customers) (planned)
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Why does my top-customer ranking shift week-over-week?** Top customers buy in bursts (B2B reorder cycles, retail seasonal restocks). A 90-day window smooths individual purchase spikes but ranks still shift as new orders push customers up and trailing windows drop old orders. The top-3 are usually stable across weeks; ranks 30+ swing more. **Should I exclude wholesale customers from this view?** Depends on the question. For overall customer concentration risk, include all. For retail-VIP recognition programs, filter to retail-only. For wholesale account management, filter to B2B group. The card supports group filters; configure saved views per use-case. **Why do guest customers not show up?** Guests have no `customer_id` (or each order gets a synthetic ID), so they can't be aggregated reliably. Toggle "include guests by email" to dedupe by email address; this catches the same email-address guest making multiple orders without registering. Some BC merchants see 30-50% guest checkout rate; turning this on can materially shift the rankings. **My #1 customer is a friend / family member, what do I do?** Tag the account internally (BC custom field `internal_account = true`) and configure the card to exclude tagged accounts. Otherwise the top of the list misrepresents real customer concentration. Many BC stores have 1-3 internal accounts (founder's family, employees) that distort top-N views. **Why is my top customer's spend much higher than their AOV × order count?** Likely because they have a refunded high-value order in the period; the gross spend includes the original transaction. Net spend would be lower. For accurate net-customer LTV, cross-reference each top customer's refund history. **Can I see lifetime value instead of 90-day spend?** Toggle the time window to "Lifetime" for the card. Lifetime ranking reveals long-tenure customers who may not appear in 90-day rankings (a 5-year customer with 4 small orders/year is below 90-day radar but is high-LTV). For retention investment, lifetime view is more meaningful; for current-period recognition, 90-day. **My top retail customer hasn't ordered in 60 days, are they at risk?** Possibly. Cross-reference [Churn Risk](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/customer-churn-risk) for the at-risk segment. Customers in the top-100 with no recent orders should get proactive outreach: a personalised email, an exclusive offer, a "we miss you" check-in. Reactivation rates on top-100 customers are typically 20-30% with light-touch outreach. **Should I share this list with my customer-service team?** Yes, the top-50 should be flagged in your CS / chat tool with VIP status. When they contact support, they should be routed to senior agents, given priority queue, and any complaints handled white-glove. The cost of losing a top-50 customer (years of LTV) far exceeds the cost of giving them senior CS attention. **My B2B Edition portal customers all have business names, where are the contacts?** The `customer_id` in BC's B2B Edition can be either an Account-level (business) or a Contact-level (individual user within the business). Most B2B portals operate at Account level; the spend rolls up to the business name. Drill into the customer record in BC for the contact-level user list and order assignment. **Why doesn't this card show the LTV / customer cohort analysis?** That's a separate card (planned: `bc_customer_ltv_cohort`). This card is the spend ranking; cohort and LTV analysis is a different shape (matrix or chart, not ranking). The two pair well. **A new customer jumped to rank 8 with one order, normal?** Yes for B2B (large first orders are common); unusual for retail. A retail customer hitting top-10 with one order is either a wholesale-style purchase mis-categorised as retail, an estate purchase, or a gift-from-friend large order. Investigate; it may be a B2B-prospect to convert formally, or a one-off that won't repeat. **Multi-currency, do top customers sum across currencies?** Without a currency filter, yes (naively). A customer transacting in both USD and EUR sums the native amounts. Filter by currency for accurate per-currency ranking; or use a single-currency conversion view for unified ranking. Most multi-currency stores want one filtered view per major currency. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Top Customers* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across BigCommerce and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.